Popular Muslim Reactions to the Franks in the Levant, 1097-1291.

• Author: Mourad, Suleiman A.
• Position: Book review

Popular Muslim Reactions to the Franks in the Levant, 1097-1291. By ALEX MALLETT. Farnham, Surrey, UK: ASHGATE, 2014. Pp. xi + 176. S119.95.

Popular Muslim Reactions to the Franks in the Levant is an excellent source book that documents the variety of Muslim responses to the Crusades. Alex Mallett showcases his extensive knowledge and expertise of the sources (both medieval European and Islamic) on the Crusader period, while tackling a very interesting topic and presenting a mass of interesting data. The book is divided into ten chapters (along with an introduction and conclusion). Eight chapters examine the different forms of "popular" negative reactions to the Crusades, from fighting and other forms of physical resistance to indirect resistance (prayer, etc.). Only two (chapters eight and ten) discuss what one might call positive reaction, namely, conversion to Christianity and working with the Franks.

This book adds to our knowledge of the complexity of the Crusader period and to the different forms of Muslim attitudes to the Crusader challenge, but there are some problems that weaken its conclusions. For instance, the use of the notion "popular" is problematic and confusing. One can clearly see that the author intends it to mean the marginal groups of society whose voices are not expressed in historical sources, but in the actual cases examined we find elite groups as well. In this respect, the expression ahl al-balad (e.g., p. 21) is presented to mean the masses exclusively and to mean all the masses in a given city. This expression is very common in Muslim sources, however, and can indicate on the one hand the elite of a particular town (elders, religious clerics, rich, etc.) and on the other an undefined group, and not necessarily the entire population.

Another small problem occurs in the discussion about the role of the masses in fighting (e.g., pp. 13-30). Since there were no standing armies in the Near East at that time, local rulers and even regional rulers depended on recruits from the masses for major offensive campaigns or to repel major attacks. It is therefore not surprising that non-elite groups in a given city would stand up to defend their city or rally to lend a hand to another city under attack--that was the normal course of events. Opposition to the Franks would have depended on rallying troops from among the general public. Ibn Wasil, for instance, related that the army of al-Mu'azzam numbered 3,000 horsemen, which...